Which Hardwoods Are The Hardest

Most common hardwoods unlike the conifers or softwood firs spruce and pines hardwood trees have evolved into a broad array of common species.

Which hardwoods are the hardest.

The guide to american hardwood species. If you re interested in buy it for life wood flooring you re going to need to make hardness and scratch resistance a priority in the hardwood flooring industry the janka hardness test is the standard approach to measuring how resistant a wood sample is to both denting and wear. The most durable flooring woods will be hardwoods such as oak walnut ebony maple ash and pecan. For the hardest woods you need to look for exotics not domestics.

It s commonplace in furniture flooring trim and in places where a pale light colored wood is needed. Hard maple acer saccharum 2. If you don t see a thickness you want give us a call 1 877 232 3915 we can mill exactly what you need. The janka hardness test from the austrian born emigrant gabriel janka 1864 1932 measures the resistance of a sample of wood to denting and wear.

An excellent selection of some of the most beautiful woods in the world. The wood from hardwood trees tends to be harder because the trees grow at a slower rate giving the wood its greater density. Here s a guide to which species are the hardest. Consider verawood as a very close substitute.

A common use of janka hardness ratings is to determine whether a species is suitable for use as flooring. Hardwood lumber domestic hardwood. It measures the force required to embed an 11 28 millimetres 0 444 in diameter steel ball halfway into a sample of wood. Exotics are sourced from areas like indonesia and south america.

Wood hardness chart species alphabetical hardness species by hardness hardness mahogany honduran 800 padauk 1725 mahogany santos 2200 tabaccowood 1750 maple hard north american 1450 rosewood bolivian 1780 maple ivory 1500 bamboo carbonized 1800 maple soft 999 hickory 1820 merbau 1925 pecan 1820 mesquite 2345 yellowheart 1820. Generally acknowledged as the hardest wood lignum vitae guaiacum sanctum and guaiacum officinale measures in at 4 500 pounds force lbf on the janka scale. A wide variety of domestic hardwoods in various thicknesses and price ranges. As a resource american hardwoods are abundant renewing and sustainable and an excellent choice for eco effective design and building.

Widely accepted as the hardest wood in the world this wood has been listed as an endangered species and is listed in cites. Softwoods such as fir pine and hemlock rarely work well as flooring materials except in a shop or utility area. This guide features 20 of the most abundant and most often used hardwood species.